Search

You might be wondering what happened after the City Council directed the Temescal McDonald’s owner and the appellants to meet to try to find a compromise. Well, I have some very good news to share.

The applicant and McDonald’s owner, Ed Smith, met with a small group of the appellants last Thursday and came to an agreement on some design issues. The details are still being hammered out, so I don’t have a design to share here yet, but, most importantly, the drive-through will no longer be next to the Telegraph sidewalk – it will be moved to the back of the building.

That is the main thing I and the other appellants were fighting for, and I’m so glad that Smith recognized that there was a design that could accommodate the business and community needs. I am incredibly grateful that he met with us and worked so hard to find a solution. I also am grateful to the Council, particularly Jane Brunner, for believing that the appellants and applicants could work together to find an agreed upon design and for giving us the opportunity to do so.

So what does this mean, exactly? Well, the City Council still has to vote tomorrow (Tuesday) night on our appeal. Since the appellants and the applicants have found a solution, we’re very hopeful that the Council will approve the agreed upon plans, but it’s still important to show up.

Please join us to speak briefly about your support for the compromise plan and to thank the Council and McDonald’s for finding a solution that works for everyone.

The non-consent calendar part of the meeting starts at 6:30pm on Tuesday, May 17th in the Council Chambers in City Hall, 1 Frank Ogawa Plaza. Our item is second on the non-consent part of the agenda so please arrive early, and know that the item will be done by a reasonable hour. You can fill out a speaker card online.

We haven’t planned anything yet, but I am sure many of the appellants and supporters will be going out nearby to celebrate after the meeting, and we’d love for you to join us.

Please also email the Council before the meeting to express your support for the compromise. Here is contact info for the Council:

10 Responses to “Bye-bye drive-through on Telegraph: A pedestrian friendly solution to the Temescal McDonald’s redesign”

Awesome job. While it’s too bad that the owner wouldn’t just sit and hear you out before all this time was spent, it’s great to see everyone come together and find a solution that can meet everyone’s needs and serve the community.

Congratulations and thank you. We’ll turn you into a Temescal NIMBY yet. Just wait till you move here and one of those 70 feet buildings you like cuts off the sun to your heirloom tomatoes. Not being sarcastic.

My neighbor’s trees crowded out the sunlight for my heirloom tomatoes last year. I didn’t go to the Planning Commission or Council and demand that these trees be cut down. Instead, I moved the tomatoes and they’re doing quite well this year (I discovered the first few tomatoes growing this weekend).

There is no way a single building (or tree) could crowd out a property’s sunlight all day long. Sometimes you just need to be creative and ready to adapt. That’s part of what urban living is about.

Congratulations! I am happy to hear it worked out! Typically, people who appeal projects here in Berkeley in order to improve them with community considerations in mind aren’t recieved well here -they’re seen as obstructionists who can’t their way. It’s great to see that’s not the case in Oakland and that community improvements can be accomplished in the public process of development without rancor or establishment condemnation.

You really got this mickeydees to close down just to put the drive thru in a different spot? Why waste your time and close down our favorite late night drive thru? Where do i go now? Jack in the box doesn’t cut it.

The owner wanted to demolish the McDonald’s and build a new one. Whether we had gotten involved or not, the McDonald’s would have been demolished. Because of our involvement, what is going to be built there is a design improvement.

Recent Posts

It’s been nearly two years since I’ve written anything here and nearly three years since I announced a “hiatus” for this blog, but as I was writing my endorsements to post on Facebook, I thought I should post them here as well. This will probably be my last blog post for a very long time, […]

Four years after several Oakland advocates, bloggers, and blog readers saved the space from becoming a surface parking lot, the Uptown Art Park is opening this Friday night! Thanks to hard work by staff in the City’s Public Art Program and funding from the National Endowment for the Arts, Oaklanders and Uptown visitors will soon […]

This guest blog post was written by Daniel Schulman, who first moved to Oakland in 1984. Following a multi-year break for graduate school and career, he returned to the city in 2001 where he has lived since. During that time, Dan has worked to improve Oakland’s livability while maintaining its unique character. He is a […]

This guest blog post was written by Josie Schimke, the Program Development Associate for the Black Rock Arts Foundation. Through her administrative and program support over the last five years for BRAF, Josie has had the privilege of watching promising art proposals mature into exceptional achievements of public art. The Black Rock Arts Foundation (BRAF) […]

This guest blog post was written by Josh Sonnenfeld, Campaign Manager for Save the Bay. This post is cross-posted from Save the Bay’s blog, one of the handful of environmental blogs I read regularly. If you care about the Bay, you should be reading it too. A gem at the heart of Oakland, Lake Merritt […]